'It's time to get rid of Babar and Rizwan' - Shaheen Afridi takes a cheeky dig at critics

Pakistan bounced back from their defeat against England in the series opener with an emphatic triumph in the second T20I, plummeting the visitors by ten wickets. Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan made a mockery of England's total of 199 runs and got home unscathed with three deliveries to spare. Pakistani pacer Shaheen Afridi took a jibe against the critics of the opening duo via his sarcastic social media post.

Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan put on a record unbeaten double century stand for the first wicket as Pakistan got home without losing a wicket, only the second instance in their T20I history. The Pakistani skipper recorded his second ton in the shortest format of the game with a swashbuckling 110 off 66 deliveries. Meanwhile, his opening partner, Rizwan, continued his rich vein of form with an unbeaten 88 of 51 deliveries.

While Babar was criticized for his lack of runs at the top after an uncharacteristically lean patch in the Asia Cup, Rizwan invited critics for his slow scoring rate. But the duo have seemingly silenced all the naysayers with their trailblazing stand to annihilate the English bowlers. Shaheen Afridi compiled a sarcastic tweet in response to their amazing innings. 

Absolutely proud of this amazing Pakistani team: Shaheen Afridi

“I think it is time to get rid of Kaptaan @babarazam258 and @iMRizwanPak. Itne selfish players. Agar sahi se khelte to match 15 overs me finish hojana chahye tha. Ye akhri over tak le gaye. Let’s make this a movement. Nahi? Absolutely proud of this amazing Pakistani team. (I think it is time to get rid of captain Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan. Such selfish players. If they had played in the correct manner, this run chase would have been over in the 15th over. But they took it to the last over. Let’s make this a movement, no? Absolutely proud of this amazing Pakistani team).

The scintillating partnership broke a few records as it was the highest opening stand in a chase, while the fifth highest overall in T20Is. This was also Pakistan's highest opening partnership in the format with the previous one also belonging to the duo which came against South Africa in 2021.